well folks I have decided to start another thread concerning the foot well led mod I did on my z, it is posted in the -what did you buy your z thread) but it seems to have caught the attention of a few members. im thinking not everyone looks at the - what did you buy your z this week, so im starting a new one.
I don't know about everyone else but personally I quite like the more orange interior lights of the z, almost retro 50s. they are hard to find, unlike the garish bright led lights available on the flebay.
I got mine from work, they were destined for an M and S store, there used inside some of the display stand in the home department. the next time the M and S man comes in to see me (usually Wednesdays) I will tackle him as to the supplier name and part numbers for these led strips. I simply wired mine to the courtesy light which allows them to dim out, it would also be possible to simply wire them to the door switches, but you wouldn't get the dimming effect.
I have also fitted them inside my boot.
as promised I will send sets onto the first couple of members who have enquired for these lights, however I cant do this for everyone as I would soon run out, what would I say to M and S
so if anyone else needs them, register your interest here so I can order a quantity, as to price they would be real cheap as there supplied by the hundreds to the store.
there simply strips of led with a sticky backing, they can be cut with scissors to the desired length, every 3 led have a resistor so there is no worry of over powering them, they are 12v forward voltage.

Nice work!! I used 2 e36 sunvisor lights to do the same in my car...connected to the center overhead light circuit...they come on when the door is opened and "fade" out with the center light too...
Bought off eBay...the third one went into the boot...

looks like a popular mod, ok heres more info.
these are the led strips
they also come with a bridging cable, this cable is real handy as I will show you. the cable is on the left
the led strip has a male end and a female end
the bridging cable also has a male/female end.
there are 4 pins on both the strips and the cable, there are 2 positive and 2 negative pins.
you can utilise these in the following manor - first I separated the 2 outer wires like this
then I cut through the 2 inner wires like this.
i now pulled the 2 cut wires all the way along till it stoped at the other plug at the end of the cable.
I now have a cable with 2 loose wires which I will use for the power feed from the car, I also have both the male and female plugs at intervals along the cable.
i then cut the led strip in half, so i have 2 smaller strips (approx. 50cm in length), one with a male plug and one with a female socket the same as the 2 plugs on the cable. if this isn't too clear it doest matter as i will do all this myself before sending them out.
it looks something like this (though i will point out i have drawn this slightly wrong as the inner and outer wires are the wrong way around.

now for powering the leds
oh yeh forgot to mention, both the led strips and the cable has the plus and minus on them to prevent plugging them in the wrong way.
right back to powering the lights.
sitting in the drivers seat - remove the A post trim
under the trim and near the top of the A post there is a 3 pin plug (arrowed)
the 3 wires for the plug are as follows, brown wire with a black stripe is the positive feed for the led strip (i will label the cables before sending them out), the red and white wire is the ground while the plain brown wire has something to do with the side lights and we are NOT intrested in this wire at all.
once the wires are fed through the rear of the foot wells the power wires need tucking behind the rubber trim like this
then its a simple case of splicing the wires together, i think maybe the best way to cover how i fed the wires through the footwells and connected the wires is if i re-do mine at the weekend, i cheated and wired mine straight to the interior light, im would rather splice mine into this 3 pin plug, so im gona redo mine and take pics as i go. this just shows how easy it was, takes about 20min in total

oh yeh suppose i had better point out the obvious, always be aware while messing with electrical systems on cars that are fitted with airbags and or safety restraints that are powered by pyrotechnics (explosive charge) could lead to an injury or even be fatal, it can and does happen. hope i havnt put anyone off, its quite rare but even a mutimeter plugged into the wrong wire can trigger an airbag. though the electrical system associated with srs are usually labelled and usually have there own harness. just covering my arse

the instructions in the linky are a bit overkill, but interesting, good link. as to the pricing errr no your not missing anything as I havnt posted a price, im not a business so pricing will slaughter the $55 tag on the others, I would say less than £8. at the moment I have about 8 sets of the above, however im now looking at the idea of plug and play without having to use my instructions above, I like the idea of using the scotch connector ( I had considered this myself) though this may be something folks will have to supply themselves (I will have a looksee on ebay first) as to removing any trim I found the A post the best place to slice into as it doesn't involve removing any trim screws (didn't want to damage my screw covers ) I fed the wire from one footwell to the other using a wire coat hanger, then taped the wire to the hanger then gently withdrew the hanger bringing the wire through .
more details coming soon.

yes there are going to be enough for everyone the advantage of these is there is no cutting out of the trim as in the kit linked above, not that im saying this other kit isn't any good or anything instead they simply stick to the trim underneath and out of view . plus led are cheap

Nice little modification and nice results however I have a slight query regarding the loom you are tapping in to.

littlefeller wrote:the 3 wires for the plug are as follows, brown wire with a black stripe is the positive feed for the led strip (i will label the cables before sending them out), the red and white wire is the ground while the plain brown wire has something to do with the side lights and we are NOT intrested in this wire at all.

The three wires in the loom you are tapping in to is purely for the interior light and the wires are as follows: -

I think you should be using the Brown wire (Gnd) and the Brown/Black wire (switched) for your lights. At the moment you are getting a ground through the lamp itself.

The interior lighting circuit for these cars is not like the older systems where the door switch grounds the circuit, the door switches are connected to the body electronics module, it is this unit that sends the signal to turn on/off the lights. Please do not take this as criticism as I do not want to put a damper on this project, I just want it to be right for you if other are going to be installing it in to their cars.

yes that's correct, however the brown wire switches to a red and white at the plug (odd) depending on wether you tap into above or below the plug. I didn't notice this till I was looking at the pics. the instructions will be much simpler now, here is the new modified led strip (just one double cable, just need the scotch plugs now and hey its done)

the new strips will be going exactly where you have suggested, as mine at the moment isn't the same as these I will be redoing mine at the weekend.

Last edited by littlefeller on Wed 11 Sep, 2013 19:20, edited 1 time in total.

right, I have had a butchers on ebay for the scotch wire connectors, there real cheap so I will buy a load. I will post the new fitting instructions as I do mine (with pics) for everyone to have a look and comment, all comments welcome, even if you think you may be criticising, you wont be after all as rob has pointed out it looks as though it is going into a fair few cars. both types will be available, with the first type having plugs on the ends while the others are much simpler, premeasured and soldered. (they are both the same light colour.

getting there however I will have to have a rethink on the scotch joiners as I don't think they will fit under the A post trim, I still think this is the best place (easiest) to tap into the interior light circuit so I will have to come up with something else, it needs to be real simple like the scotch joiners.

ok just to tie up a few loose ends and an update as to were I have got to.
firstly the price for these lights comes out at around £8, this includes postage (1st class royal mail).
the new type of design is different to the one pictured, though the colour is the same. the difference is the led strips now only have two wires and no plugs, the idea is to make them a tool free install with clear instructions.
no cutting of anything is involved and is completely reversible.
I have had a few pms regarding how to pay - I think it best I pm everyone who has registered an interest in the thread.
as to the qty available, I have seem my marks and spencer's representative (buyer for the in store displays) and he has ordered me more of the strips so available qty will not be an issue.
in the meantime I will be using current stock (which he has agreed to) and will be replaced with the ordered led.
I would prob be easier for me to post most, if not all at around the same time once the design is finalised (this weekend hopefully).
so if there is anyone else just leave your interest on this thread
I will keep everyone updated as I progress, and will post in this thread (keeps things easier for me to follow) sorry for those who are awaiting them in the post but I would rather get this right (unless your willing to wire them in yourselves without the tool free kit then yes the earlier plugged type are still available and ready now).

another joins the fold. uummm I need to get those shares in royal mail soon it will be rare to see a z without footwell lights, I also have to install some in my mrs 206 and the daughters 307 and her boyfriends e46 (the daughters boyfriend before anyone asks )

After reading this thread with interest I thought I would have a go as I use the same LED lighting within my kitchen designs and installations, I followed the instructions and 20 mins later all done ! The only tricky part was splicing the wires in the capping behind the Pillar Really makes a difference and many thanks for sharing

tools needed
i also used a stanley blade which i will get to later
using the penny
remove the 4 plastic trim screws by turning them 90 degrees, the screws (though technically there not screws just trim clips) are located under the footwells, this is the passenger footwell with screw locations arrowed
once the screws you can lower the upper trim like this
using a suitable piece of wire (mine is a handle off an old bucket but and stiff wire is fine
feed the wire from one footwell to the next through the back like this
check to see if it has come through
tape the end of the led strip to the wire
then carefull with draw the wire back the way it went in so to pull the strip into the oposite footwell like this
remove A frame trim (it just clips in so is real easy to remove)
withdraw the 3 wires from the A frame
first attempt i used the scotch splicing plugs
however the wires in both the A frame and the led are too thin for the scotch plugs to work so i had to resort to good old splicing
this is where the stanley blade came in handy. i removed a tiny piece of sheaving from the 2 wires needed
the wire colours are as follows, the longer wire on the led strip is the posative feed and needs to go to the brown wire with the black stripe.
the shorter led wire needs to go to the plain brown wire
good old fashioned insulating tape
i will buy scotch plugs for narrower guage wire (think there the red ones), the ones i brought are blue.
personaly i couldnt be bothered to wait so i just spliced mine straight to the wires as in the pics to test the new led strips and the new splice location.
it doesnt work in the same way as feeding them straight from the interior light in the way mine was originals set, they come on and dim out as before,
however if you wish to use the interior light when the doors are closed then just the main (original internal light) comes on and the strips dont.
this is simply that the main light runs from the red and white wire when switched to the on posision.
it would depend on what you wish to use the footwell lights for, i have no need for just the light so im leaving mine wired where they are.
taking the feed from the brown and black wire will always result in this setup, so the other $55 set linked in this thread would also operate in the same way.
if you wish to run them with the on position avalible then i can post a how to for this too, but it isnt as simple.
i now have this
check all is working as it should before going any further
if all ok - replace drivers side footwell trim, keeping the wire tidy.
you can see in this pic where the old set was, the new set will be going in exactly the same place
remove a small piece of the backing and attach in place
run it along removing the backing as you go to finish like this
now for the other side, i found it best to run the wire over the trim like this before reattaching the trim inside the footwell
replace trim
keep it tidy, you can tuck and surplus wire back behind the trim
stick to underside of footwell as you did on the drivers side
using the penny, gently push the feed wires behind the rubber seal and dash
finished
took me 15 min (but i have done it once before)

Not me !!!! I use the 5mtr reals and the one I used here was warm white as the cool white was too bright. Would never had thought of it if I hadn't seen your thread !! I have had a few reals of the bright white go adrift and sure I have seen a few fiestas with R8 style LED lights !!

I just noticed that you spliced your wires below the plug of the wiring loom and used the brown wire and black wire, I spliced mine above the plug and used the red wire and the black wire ! I'm sure the brown wire below the plug actually connects to the red wire above it ! It all works anyhow

yeh for some odd reason the wires change colour at the plug. the red and white wire is for when the light is switched to on (not on door switches but on the last setting which stays on) the brown in the middle is the ground. the way yours is wired now (same as mine) if you switch the light on with the doors closed the led doesn't come on, if you wire the positive to the light itself then take a ground somewhere else you can have both (led and main interior light on if you use the last switch position with the doors closed).
at first I tried using the led as the ground, but this doest work as the led current is so low it wont allow the main light to illuminate (restricts the flow).
I am leaving mine as they are now (I don't use the interior light) they dim out well too